When students return to Christiansburg High School for classes on Wednesday, they’ll find at least one large “open plan” gender-neutral and multiple-stall bathroom.
Parents are raising the alarm.
“I would have been mortified at that age,” Alecia Vaught, 49, who has two grandchildren at the southwestern Virginia school, told The Daily Signal about the bathroom situation.
The Daily Signal obtained photos of signs with symbols depicting a woman, a man, a half-man/half-woman, and a wheelchair. While the individual stalls have higher walls to increase privacy, the gender-neutral open concept means that teen boys and girls will share a handwashing space in view from the hallway.
While the architect in charge of the renovation plans defended the open bathroom as an attempt to prevent bullying and certain illicit activities, parents raised privacy concerns.
A Facebook user posted a photo of the bathroom in a Christiansburg High School Alumni group.
When approached for comment, the school district did not deny the gender-neutral sign in the photo or clarify the policy. Instead, Andrew Webb, communications coordinator at Montgomery County Public Schools, sent a photo of a sign that said “Gold Restroom.”
Vaught, the grandmother, mentioned that teenage girls who are experiencing their first periods would find it extremely embarrassing to share an open space with boys.
“Could you imagine just starting [your period] for the first time and not being able to get what you need?” she asked.
Vaught also noted that while the stalls may hide girls from view, they would not block out sounds.
“How would you feel coming out of the stall, washing your hands, and having to look at the boy or man who just heard you and is now right beside you at the sink? That is NOT OK!” she said.
Such a plan would amount to “the complete invasion of privacy of our girls,” who “need to have a safe space they can go to pull themselves together if they’re stressed out, emotional, or upset. They need privacy to conduct their business or ask other girls for tampons or pads, and to be able to check their faces or fix their makeup in the mirror.”
“School is stressful enough for teenagers, and young girls shouldn’t have to worry about boys and men watching them in their private spaces,” Vaught added.
She predicted that the open model would lead to increased bullying, especially if “someone sees period blood on another students’ clothing.”
“How could any of that not scar young girls for life?”
Another parent who spoke on condition of anonymity echoed Vaught’s concerns about privacy during the girls’ periods. She also noted that “for ones who already have experienced trauma at the hands of a boy, they will potentially be reliving that trauma every time they’re in the bathroom.”
Josh Bower, principal at Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, explained the concept in a June 6, 2023, meeting for the Montgomery County School Board.
“We are showing that the toilet rooms for the student use are all going to be open plan,” he said. “The goal of the open plan is to reduce bullying.”
“The bathroom is the highest level of anxiety a student has,” Bower added. “They don’t want to go to the restroom because of some of the nonsense that happens in there. When you’re doing your most private activities, the stalls go from floor to ceiling and they are completely private when you are doing your most private activities.”
He presented a floor plan of the bathrooms, noting that the plan aims to reduce bullying, smoking, vaping, destruction, and vandalism.
“Students should have access to facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their consistently asserted gender identity or expression,” states the board’s official policy, adopted in August 2021. “Upon request, a single-user, gender-inclusive facility, or other non-stigmatizing alternatives should be made available to any student who seeks privacy.”
The school district did not respond to The Daily Signal’s inquiry as to whether Christiansburg offers sex-segregated restrooms as an option for students seeking privacy.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found last month that five Northern Virginia school districts violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a law banning discrimination on the basis of sex in education. The office found that Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools violated the law by applying policies allowing boys and men to enter women’s spaces, if the boys and men claim a female gender identity.
“It’s time for Northern Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology and unlawful discrimination to come to an end,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement on the finding. “The Trump administration will not sacrifice the safety, dignity, and innocence of America’s young women and girls at the altar of an anti-scientific illiberalism.”
The Virginia Department of Education told The Daily Signal that local school divisions “set their own policies and procedures with their governing boards.” The state body cited the Office for Civil Rights’ actions, adding, “We trust all divisions in Virginia are reviewing local policies—including bathroom and locker room policies—to ensure alignment to Title IX and maintaining safe educational environments free from discrimination.”